What is the Islamic concept of human free will versus divine predestination?
The relationship between the human will and the Divine Will can be approximated by the following analogy: Three men are thrown into a lake. The first denies the water exists, sinks and drowns. The second man acknowledges the existence of the water but merely totally relaxes; the water raises him and he just floats. The third man acknowledges the existence of the water but he swims and reaches the beach.
The water is analogous to the Divine Will; and the three men to a disbeliever, a lazy believer, and a devout believer. The same water drowns one, supports the other, and carries the third to the beach, but it does this as a function of both the human exercise of will and the Divine Will. The water "has the power to create a vortex and drown them all, and to develop a wave that will throw them all out of the water," but if it has chosen to remain calm enough, then the will of each man will determine the outcome.
The analogy can be extended, and we can talk of currents that hold some back and move others forward. These can be thought of as the specifics of our life; but the essential relationship is fairly well depicted by this analogy in that each event cannot occur without the combination of human and Divine wills, and that whereas God has given Man the freedom to make his choice, God assures us that the Divine Will will not be capricious, but Merciful, and will therefore incline towards saving rather than drowning human souls thrown into this lake of troubled existence and being.
What defines the human being is not solely that he has free will, or moral free will to choose to obey or disobey God, but that he accepted this particular freedom of choice. Allah states in the Qu'ran:
"We offered the trust to the heavens, the earth and the mountains but they refused to shoulder it and felt sorry towards it-while Man assumed it: He is surely unjust, ignorant." 33,72
The heavens, earth and mountains cannot refuse God's invitation unless they had free will, of the highest moral order, we might add (1). The purpose for God's granting this choice to creation, and the result of Man's accepting this choice is given by the next verse:
"In order that Allah may torment the hypocrites, male and female, and relent mercifully upon the believers, male and female. And Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Ever-Merciful." 33,73.
The "Trust" offered to creation, and accepted by Man, was in order that the Forgiving and Punishing Attributes can manifest (2). In the archetypal world, God's Attributes antecede Man's existence. For God's Attributes of Forgiveness to manifest, they require a creature that freely sins and repents; otherwise they remain latent. Thus the creation of Man, defined as a free agent who sins, and is capable of feeling remorse and the need for Divine Forgiveness. In one sense, we exist as sinful, penitent creatures in order to allow these Divine Attributes to manifest. This does not mean that these Divine Attributes cause us to sin; they merely cause us to be capable of sin.
However, if we sin and do not ask for Divine Forgiveness, then justice requires that we be punished for our sin. Thus the Wrathful Divine Attributes of Anger, Vengeance and Punishment are also justly, and justifiably, manifested.
(1) This verse raises several issues regarding the nature of creation and free will. If the trust referred to here is moral freewill, or the freedom to disobey God (which in my opinion are equivalent), then the implication here is that even inanimate objects were granted the freedom to elect this option, which is certainly in itself the highest expression of moral freewill.
Verse 41,11 speaks of God commanding the heavens and the earth:
"...Come you two, willingly or unwillingly (taw`an aw karhan) . They answered: We come willingly."
That the Qur'an should add the phrase willingly or unwillingly to His command indicates that the heavens and the earth did have freedom of will to disobey God.
Taw`an aw karhan can be rendered obediently or inspite of yourselves. Obediently implies freedom of will to obey God, whereas "inspite of yourselves" implies that their free will was being forced into agreement with the Divine Command. Therefore any way the phrase is translated, the implication that the heavens and the earth have freedom of will vis-a-vis God is clear.
(2) There are four Divine Attributes that refer to God as forgiver: at-Tawwab (The One Who Turns in Forgiveness, or The Accepter of Repentance), al-Ghafur (The Ever-Forgiving), al-Ghaffar (The Intensely Forgiving), and al-`Afuww (The Absolver, in the sense of The One Who Erases Sin).
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